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Tool Forum After unpacking the Modulus from its The Modulus scoring saw attachment mounts on a regular tablesaw's arbor and attaches to the blade guard bracket at rear. The smaller scoring blade is beltdriven and revolves in the direction of feed, cutting a clean, splinter-free, shallow kerf ahead of the main blade. into panel saw Woodworkers who cut a lot of sheet goods on the tablesaw-especially hardwood plywoods with thin face veneers or coated products such as Kortron or Melamine-all have the same problem: splintered and chipped-out edges. One solution is to buy a special scoring tablesaw or panel saw that has a small-diameter, thin-kerf blade just ahead of the main blade. The small blade penetrates the surface of the sheet, through the face veneer or coating, before the main blade slices through the sheet, thereby reducing or eliminating tearout. Scoring saws are a major investment, however, well beyond the budget of most small shops. Now, Canadian Michele Letendre has designed an affordable solution. The Modulus scoring saw attachment (suggested list price is $442.95) is a self-contained unit that mounts on an ordinary tablesaw and effectively turns it into a scoring saw (see the photo above). The attachment replaces the regular sawblade with a unit haVing two carbide-tooth blades: a 2Y8-in.-dia., 14-tooth scoring blade and a 6Y4-in., 40tooth, thin-kerf (.110 in. thick) main blade. Each blade is mounted on its own ballbearing arbor, the scoring blade ahead of the main blade, and the arbors are set into an arm-like cast-iron body. This entire assembly slips onto the table- turn敧 saw's arbor. The arbor nut holds the attachment on, and special fittings that attach to the saw's blade-guard assembly bracket hold the rear end of the attachment's body in place. The tablesaw's arbor drives the main blade directly while a narrow pulley carrying a toothed belt powers the scoring blade. This drive system rotates the scoring blade in the opposite direction of the main bladewith the feed, just like dedicated scoring saws-for clean scoring. 116 Fine Woodworking Scoring saw attac hm ordinary tablesaw ent box, I removed my General tablesaw's blade-guard assembly and bolted on the special guide-pin fittings that secure the rear of t11e Modulus' body. (These fittings vary with different makes and models of tablesaw; you must order the attachment specifically designed for your saw.) I reinstalled the guard but had to grind the ribs on the bottom of the throat plate to provide clearance. Once I made these minor modifications, mounting and removing the Modulus didn't take much more time than changing a regular blade. With the arbor fully raised, the attachment slipped on easily. Then I lowered the arbor so that the rear end could be slipped into the fittings on the guard bracket and, finally, tightened the arbor nut. Adjusting the Modulus to score and cut correctly took considerably more time. First, I had to adjust a special shaft locknut to fine-tune the lateral position of the scoring blade, so it was correctly aligned with respect to the main blade. Then I had to raise the arbor to set the height of the scoring blade. This revealed a clever aspect of the attachment's design: Each scoringblade tooth tapers from base to tip; raising its height makes the scoring cut slightly wider, lowering it makes the cut narrower. Determining the proper height for the scoring blade involves making a series of trial-and-error cuts in scrap stock until you find the cleanest cut. This height adjustment must be repeated each time you mount the Modulus on the saw. How well does it work? I first tried the device on some %-in. imported walnut plywood with incredibly thin, delicate face veneers (I call it "breath of walnut" plywood). It did a marvelous job-especially on crosscuts. I needed a hand lens to see any tearout on the cut edges. The Modulus also made perfect crosscuts in Y2-in. oak plywood, which is notorious for splintering. Because of the scoring blade's tapered teeth, when a large panel lifted slightly during a cut, the score was slightly underwidth, resulting in some tearout. To keep the stock absolutely flat during cutting, you may need to rough-cut a full-sized sheet into slightly oversized pieces, and then trim them to exact size with the Modulus. A power feeder would probably eliminate this problem. Cutting cabinet parts from Melamine wasn't quite as successful. While t11e edges were still as clean as I get with the best fine-tooth regular sawblade I own, perfect edges eluded me. Without a perfect edge, it's just not possible to get a flawlessly edgebanded border. While this relatively minor shOltcoming might make the Modulus inappropriate for those who exclusively cut and edge band coated materials, I think the Modulus is an economical and valuable device for most woodworkers who cut delicate sheet goods. The Modulus scoring saw attachment is distributed by Sisco Supply (102 Kimball Ave., South Burlington, Vt. 05403; 802-863-9036.) -Sandor Nagyszalanczy Hand-forged bench c work well, hold a keen edge an owner of five different sets of chis- els, my first thought when asked to review these chisels was "Why another set?" For starters, these Barr chisels are like no others available; they are made by hand. Called cabinetmaker's chisels by their maker, they are in fact bevel-edged socket firmer chisels. They are not mortising chisels (which usually have a square cross section), but because the bevels are relatively small, the side edges remain large enough to provide stability for mortising work. Yet this same feature makes them difficult to use for dovetail work where an extra-wide bevel and almost no side edge is ideal. For general bench work, mortising, paring and even cleaning long French dovetails, they are ideal. The blades are about 5 in. long, with a As well machined, flat undersurface. The socket impressed me the most. Each one is a welded cone (the weld is invisible outside) a full 2Y2 in. deep, which really seats the handle well and transfers a firm, stiff blow directly to the blade (see the photo below). The finish is a mirror polish, much PhOlo:Vincem Laurence hise ls Barr Quarton's cabinetmaker's chisels are ideal for most bench work, including paring and mortising, although their nearly parallel sides make them awkward for cleaning out dovetails. Their 2'1z-in.deep sockets seat the handles well and transfer mallet impact directly.